Tag Archives: description

You finally have a moment to write, but what to do with your limited time? Here’s a practical prompt to kickstart the story you’re working on right now. The clock is ticking, people. Start writing.

Does your dialogue suffer from white room syndrome? You know, where disembodied voices speak to each other in an empty white space? Sometimes it’s easy to write the words of a conversation, but we forget to place them in context. The characters are standing (or sitting, or reclining) in a place, and they have bodies that move (or itch, or ache, or bounce with energy) and emotions that are affected by the words they say and hear. Readers want the whole package, so when you sit down to write, incorporate the characters’ reactions and physical experiences along with their words.

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Two weeks ago, I had the unexpected opportunity to travel to a small city in South Louisiana that I haven’t visited in nearly 16 years. The town – in the heart of sugarcane country – serves as the inspiration for the setting of the novel I’m writing. And while my main purpose for going there had nothing to do with research for my novel, I found myself noticing details about the place that will only enrich my writing. Continue reading →

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You finally have a moment to write, but what to do with your limited time? Here’s a practical prompt to kickstart the story you’re working on right now. The clock is ticking, people. Start writing.

For the past two weeks, we’ve been encouraging you to work on a difficult scene from your manuscript. (See posts on June 24 and July 1.) Congratulations for getting some words on the page! Now it’s time to take that rough scene and polish it. Go back through the scene and look for places to add dialogue, character observations, introspection and physical reactions from your characters.

You finally have a moment to write, but what to do with your limited time? Here’s a practical prompt to kickstart the story you’re working on right now. The clock is ticking, people. Start writing.

Write the scene where you introduce a new setting for your story. Include every detail, and use all five senses. Then reread what you’ve written and pick three elements that mark that setting as unique, and pare your description down to just those elements.

You’re awake. Instead of writing the Great American Novel—or even a mediocre one—you’re reading our blog. Okay, then. We offer a topic; you respond. Let your fellow writers inspire you, and return to that manuscript refreshed.

As a reader, how important is it to you to have the author give physical descriptions of the major characters? Does it help you get a feel for the story or is it just extraneous information that you ignore?

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Welcome To WriteOwls

The WriteOwls blog about writing and the writing life. We primarily write picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction. As each of us shares her unique writing experiences, influences, motivations, and resources, our joint goal is to enrich our writing journeys and yours.